Responding with wonderment and awe.

Trying to Think Like an Orchid

by Sara Eve Alarie on June 26, 2012

On the weekend a friend and I took my dog for a walk in the woods. It is the start of wildflower season in the Rockies and we counted the species of flowers that we could identify. Spotting new (to us) flowers and trying to identify them became the new purpose of our walk. While we started off on a trail, after walking along the path for a while we decided to walk off trail in search of more orchid species. We began to think like orchids, trying to predict where a good place to grow might be found, meandering along terrain features and beside creeks. At one point we both couldn’t believe how many orchids we were seeing and had to be quite careful not to disturb any growing plants. We were both walking incredibly slow and mindfully enjoying a landscape that seemed more fit for faeries than us humans.

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About Sara

Sara Eve Alarie writes, dreams, runs, climbs, bikes, skis and plays on her yoga mat in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.
She writes about the natural world, the magic of young children and mindfulness.
She grew up in Ottawa in a bilingual, nature-loving family. After a number of repeated summer flings with the Rockies she fell deeply and lastingly in love with mountain life. After a couple of detours for school and travel she moved to Canmore full time in 2005. If she has learned anything about how to love, how to be present in the moment, how to dance and sing and create and how to live fully she claims it is from spending her days with 6 year olds for more than a decade. The natural world and working with young children fill her with wonderment and awe.